Please help me!

I'm a novice gardener who loves a stripy lawn but unfortunately my new lawn seems to be dying a painful death, could any of you more greenfingered fellows help out please?

The lawn has a bit of moss in it which I treated last summer, I haven't tried any feed or greenerers as yet as I didn't want to do the wrong thing.

The soil is quite heavy and is laced with stone and builders rubbish after six inches or so (new build). It's a south facing lawn however an adjacent house provides shade early morning. For reference next doors lawn is so green it's almost blue.

Thanks

Dougie

 

I wonder if its some sort if fungal growth under the soil, as it appears to be linked, somebody more knowledgable than me will be along soon.

 

Hi

What height did you have the blade, if I was a barber looks like a no 1 all over

I would suggest you raise the height of the cutting blade and give the grass a chance to grow a little , was this the 1st cut of the year ? given time it will grow back but a feed would help green it up , good time to do with all this rain we are having
Spruce

 

Tend to agree with Spruce grass looks stressed.
Look for a feed that is just fertiliser, no weed or moss control, if it does not recover that is the time to suspect something more sinister. Keep us updated.

 

Thanks everyone, it was cut real short as I was told that was how to lose the moss. I'll get some fertiliser, any suggestions on that?

 

Although you say the soil is quite heavy I'd be inclined to think the lawn is also thirsty because of the rubble that's underneath, this would create free draining. If it doesn't rain water it regularly, meanwhile I'd feed it and raise the blades on your mower, keeping the lawn short will not get rid of moss, but it will prevent the grass from growing normally.

 

Looks compacted to me. That would be especially likely if it's on a shallow soil on a rubble base.

Try to push a stick into the soil. Something like a garden cane. I bet the green areas will be soft, the central brown area will be hard.
You can also test it by pouring some water on the lawn. If it just sits on the surface and doesn't drain in quickly, then you've got a compaction.

If that is the case then the only way to fix it is to aerate it.
Spiking won't really help in this case, and the holes will just fill in again. You need to hollow-tine it, and remove a core of soil to let the lawn relax.
Just aerating on it's own will work wonders on nearly all trouble lawns.

All the fertiliser in the world won't help if you've got compacted soil.

They're wrong. Cutting the lawn short will thin the grass, ultimately leading to more moss and a weaker lawn!

Kris

 

Having gone through drought after drought living in Essex in the seventies, our lawns often looked like yours. Amazingly they survive and re-sprout in a couple of weeks if kept watered.